Urban Design is the art of making places and lies at the nexus of planning, architecture, landscape architecture, and public policy. It shapes the physical setting for city life, where buildings, landscapes, streets, sidewalks and transportation, and the connections and transitions between them, combine to make a memorable “Public Realm” that is functional, attractive, comfortable, and safe. The Planning Department strives to balance vision and reality, aesthetics and function, heritage and change, to make people-centered places that are sustainable and enhance the property values of their surroundings.

The Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department's Neighborhood and Urban Design Division, DesignWorks, takes on special projects, such as the Downtown wayfinding sign system, design guidelines, and placemaking throughout the city and county. Citizen participation leads to design solutions created by the division, before being developed and executed by other departments, or by private sector practitioners, as in the Civil Rights Heritage Walk and the Smokey Hollow Commemoration in Cascades Park. Committed to quality in the public realm and in private development, the division works with neighborhoods, property owners, and developers in conceptual site planning, and assists architects and engineers in producing a quality product for their clients. If you are considering developing land in Tallahassee and Leon County and would like a consultation to explore concepts for your site, please call 850-891-6400.